Children's home run by Hollybank Trust in Kirklees

Inspection report children's home: SC034415 1 SC034415 Registered provider: Hollybank Trust

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated as a charitable trust. It provides a mix of short-break and long-term care for children or young people. There are currently three young people receiving long-term care; there are up to 23 young people accessing the short-break service. All the young people have complex physical disabilities and associated communication, sensory and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager for more than 26 weeks. The appointed manager remains unregistered.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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requires improvement

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement

Date of last inspection: 5 December 2017

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requires improvement

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: SC034415 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/12/2017 Full good 14/03/2017 Interim improved effectiveness 15/11/2016 Full good 08/03/2016 Interim improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC034415 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s homes(England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(a)(i)(v)(vii) and (b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, when staff become aware of an injury to a child they must ensure that appropriate medication attention is sought quickly to ensure that children and young people receive timely treatment. 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(1), (3))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that the complaint policy is appropriately applied to each complaint and that complainants are aware and understand the stages and timeliness of the complaint process. 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person 30/11/2018 Inspection report children's home: SC034415 4 must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’). (Regulation 45(1), (2)(a) and (3))

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improvement

The grade for leadership and management is inadequate, which is a graded judgement. As a result, this means that the overall grade can be no higher than requires improvement.

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improvement

All the children and young people who live in the home have complex physical disabilities and associated communication, sensory and learning difficulties. Some young people also have other medical needs. The residential and nursing staff understand and meet the needs of the young people very well.

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improvement

The home is purpose built, very well maintained and suitable for the children and young people who live there. The young people who are in long-term placements have individually decorated bedrooms. The rooms for children and young people who have short breaks are decorated and equipped to suit their different ages and needs. The communal areas include pictures of the children and young people who live there. The staff succeed in making the environment for the children and young people homely.

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improvement

The children and young people have access to a range of health professionals. Nursing staff are on site and can attend to the health needs of children and young people immediately. Medication is stored and administered safely. Good arrangements are in place for auditing medication supplies. On one occasion one young person injured their finger which caused swelling. Although the young person was seen by the home’s nurse promptly a decision was taken to monitor the young person’s injury. Following the young person’s parent expressing their concern about the injury, the young person attended hospital. This decision led to a delay in the young person receiving appropriate medical attention for a fractured finger. A requirement is made to ensure that staff seek appropriate medical attention straight away given their work with children and young people who cannot readily communicate their pain.

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improvement

All the children and young people who are in long-term placements attend the school on site. Staff from the home go into the school to take part in planned sessions with the young people. This means that the staff improve their knowledge of the abilities of the children and young people they look after. The young people have made progress as a result of the arrangements for education.

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improvement

The children and young people use the facilities on site. However, the children and young people are not isolated and go out into the wider community. Several young people enjoyed a recent activity holiday. Other children visited a local museum. Photographs Inspection report children's home: SC034415 5 showed how much the children and young people enjoyed these experiences.

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improvement

The home involves the children and young people in the running of the home. Due to the complex difficulties of the children and young people, staff use a variety of communication methods. This includes easy-reading symbols and observation of behaviour.

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improvement

The staff work hard to keep high levels of contact between the children and young people and their families. Parents and professionals speak very highly about the care provided by the home. One parent said: ‘I have no qualms about my son having short breaks in the home. He has made progress because of the one-to-one time he has with members of staff.’ A social worker said: ‘The facilities are fantastic, but the best bit is that the workers really know [name of child]. They genuinely care for her.’

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The children and young people in this home rely on members of staff to understand and meet all their needs and as such are supervised at all times. They are not exposed to risks, such as county lines activity, child sexual exploitation or radicalisation. The children and young people do not go missing from home and do not have challenging behaviour.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Some of the children and young people have high levels of anxiety. Staff are attuned to their needs in order to provide safe and effective care. Safe recruitment processes are thorough to ensure that staff members are skilled to manage such challenging behaviour. The home encourages support workers to develop their skills to apply for senior positions. This means that staff get to know the children well over a long period of time.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

All staff complete safeguarding training when they begin work. The staff also undertake refresher training every three years. All members of staff attend a wide range of other training, such as training on administration of medication, gastrostomy feeding and first aid. Compliance with the required training is good.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Members of staff know what to do if they think someone has harmed or neglected a child or young person. The staff understand that children and young people who have profound disabilities are vulnerable to abuse. Staff know they must be vigilant about any change in the young people they look after, as this might be due to harm, neglect or they may be suffering from pain. They take appropriate action quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not effectively and efficiently managed by a permanent, suitably experienced and qualified registered manager. There has been no registered manager at this home for a significant period of time. As a result, judgement for effectiveness of leaders and managers is inadequate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has professional qualifications and supervisory experience. However, evidence of the manager’s ability to comply with the regulations could not be assessed as the individual did not provide this information for verification. There is an experienced, senior member of staff who ensures that the staff team provides high-quality care for the Inspection report children's home: SC034415 6 children and young people. This mitigates against the effect of the manager not being registered with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has made several positive changes in the home, including improved recruitment. There are now enough members of staff to provide consistent care to the children and young people. This means bank or agency staff are rarely used and almost all staff members know the children and young people very well.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has also improved multi-disciplinary working between the home and the school. As a result, the children and young people benefit from a more knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff team, that provides a continuum of care for the children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has changed the way the home interacts with family and friends of the children and young people. She has introduced celebration events which family members attend. She has also set up a private Facebook group for family members to keep up to date with the children and young people. This means that children and young people continue to be part of their own family, even when living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision records show that managers deal with performance issues including attendance and adherence to policies. Members of staff complete a reflective exercise following any performance issues that affect the children and young people. Team meeting minutes show that difficulties in the staff team are acknowledged and addressed. Staff members said that they enjoy working in the home and feel supported by their line managers. One member of staff said: ‘I received a good induction; I couldn’t ask for a better working team. It’s been a good transition from support worker to senior.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Information about the quality of care in the home has not been consolidated to give an overall view of whether children and young people are kept safe, the strengths and weakness of the home and areas that need to improve. The manager was not aware that a report was required to comply with this regulation. A requirement is made in respect of this shortfall in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of recordings relating to complaints varies in the home. Inspectors viewed one complaint which did not demonstrate that the home’s policy had been fully complied with. Information about which stage of the complaint process was being considered and the timescales for the process were omitted from the recordings. A requirement is made to ensure that the management of any future complaints comply with the home’s complaints policy. Inspection report children's home: SC034415 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children’s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children’s homes(England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. Inspection report children's home: SC034415 8

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Kathleen Eastwood

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Inspector(s)

Cath Sikakana: social care inspector Jane Titley: social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC034415 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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